Editorial Rate Rise Hurts Pm
Illawarra Mercury
Tuesday November 6, 2007
THE odds of an interest rate rise after today's Reserve Bank of Australia board meeting are better than for any horse in the Melbourne Cup.
That's the tip from leading economists around the country, but the nation's mortgage belt - and an anxious prime minister - will have to wait until 9.30am tomorrow to find out if the bank has created history by lifting interest rates during a federal election.If the Reserve Bank follows the expected script, it will be the sixth consecutive hike since the 2004 federal election, when John Howard promised to keep interest rates at record lows.That's bad news for the Coalition, which has fiercely promoted its credentials as a strong and capable manager of the nation's economic fortunes.According to Illawarra Legal Centre financial counsellor Maroun Germanos yesterday, the first casualties of any interest rate increase will be families already over-committed to home loans.But he warned the pain is likely to be shared by many others because rate increases affect credit cards and other loans and create a trickle-down effect to all basic commodities.And that spells bad news for everyone.
© 2007 Illawarra Mercury
